Piastri Says McLaren Should Be More Competitive in Hungary

Oscar Piastri has been optimistic about McLaren's chances at the Hungarian Grand Prix despite a complicated Friday at the Hungaroring. The Australian couldn't take part in FP1 because McLaren gave his seat to reserve driver Leonardo Fornaroli, and he was only able to run in FP2 where he finished eighth: "Very, very challenging, definitely. The track conditions are quite tricky, it's very windy. It's a very demanding circuit at the moment, and obviously missing a practice session has made it quite difficult" declared Piastri.

The McLaren driver explained that he couldn't test the full upgrade package that his teammate Lando Norris used in FP2. Norris, who was third in the second session behind the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, did debut the new features: "I didn't have them today. On Lando's car they have worked as we expected, which is good. I don't think they have completely changed the car, which obviously we didn't expect, but it would have been nice. We'll see how it works on my car tomorrow and hopefully we can have a successful day" said Piastri.

The Australian was optimistic about the fight at the front of the grid: "I think the Ferraris looked very fast in both sessions, Lando looked competitive in that session especially, I think the Mercedes is very difficult to read, so we'll wait and see tomorrow. If we execute a good day, it seems like there could be a lot at stake" he added.

Randy Singh, McLaren's senior racing director, shared more information about the upgrades introduced on the MCL40 and the team's hopes of closing the gap to the leaders: "All the upgrades have worked as we expected, which is the most positive thing we can say. Today Oscar used the old floor in FP2, just so we could compare between cars, so tomorrow Oscar will also have the new floor" said Singh.

McLaren's racing director acknowledged that the team needs to reduce the gap to the leaders: "The gap to whoever has been fastest in qualifying or in the race has been a bit bigger in recent races, so we always knew we weren't going to close that gap in one go, but hopefully we have taken a good step in that direction" he explained.

McLaren has had an irregular start to the season with ups and downs in the MCL40's performance. The team has suffered reliability issues and strategic errors that have cost them valuable points. Piastri trusts that the upgrades introduced in Hungary and the team's work will allow them to close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari in the second half of the season.

The fight at the front of the grid is very tight, with Mercedes leading the constructors' championship, followed by Ferrari and McLaren. Piastri and Norris need to score points consistently if they want to keep their options in the drivers' championship. The upgrades introduced in Hungary are an important step towards closing the gap to the leaders and aiming for podiums in the upcoming races.

The key to the weekend will be qualifying, where Piastri trusts that the new floor and the upgrades on the car will allow him to be closer to the leaders' times: "If we execute a good day, it seems like there could be a lot at stake" reiterated the Australian, who hopes that the Hungaroring, a circuit that has traditionally suited McLaren well, will be the stage to start the comeback in the second half of the season.